Quotes
Podium Talks * State of the Union, 2005, President, George W. Bush. Debate Coverage * Coverage of State Rep Debate in PA in 2005. Links within The specific message for this campaign, including slogans and songs, is located in the campaign plan/page. Fishing Teach a man to fish, and you have a job for a day. Give a man a fish, and you have a job for life.' A philanthropist remarked, 'Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll come back next year asking for a grant for a fishing boat.' Give a man a fish and he'll eat. Give a man a life and he'll go fishing. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime. Teach him how to create an artificial shortage of fish and he eats steak for a lifetime. A wife: Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and you'll never see him on the weekends. No benefit A true benefit of a man's character is how one treats another who is of no benefit to him. Campaigns The word, campaign is a military term of Latin and later French origin. It evokes an image of a long-term, drawn-out, complex operation. During many of the longer military campaigns throughout history the various alliances and intrigues -- the politics of warfare -- ultimately had a greater bearing on the outcomes than the actual fighting did. The same can be said today. The term is appropriate when applied to presidential, state and even city-hall politics. Solve Problems You can't solve problems using the same kind of thinking that was used when you created the problems. Pittsburgh's problems were created in the recent decade. True to oneself "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss Guns Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave. -- Andrew Fletcher, A Discourse of Government with relation to Militias (1698) Power Read about what James Luther Adam (1901 - 1994) wrote about power. Resentment Having a resentment is like taking a poison and hoping the other guy dies. (Susan St. James) Thomas Paine 'The Rights of Man' c.1792 "It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from the government." William Scranton, Governor of Pennsylvania "The value of government to the people it serves is in direct relationship to the interest citizens themselves display in the the affairs of state." A party which requires 100% thought compliance isn't a party; it's a cult. It's not necessary (or shouldn't be) for people to agree with 100% of a party's platform in order to be a member in good standing of that party. A person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is an ally, not an enemy. Proactive, pre-emptive generic apology I hereby apologize, sincerely, forthrightly, and contritely, for any and all actions and/or communications on this listserv that may, or may not, offend, or potentially offend, or annoy, or aggravate, or in any other way inconvenience or negatively impact in a way that is not benign, any human, either male or female, or non-gendered, of whatever race, ethnicity, political, philosophical, and/or religious background, or any other sentient being, mammalian, reptilian, avian, or vegetative, or even unicellular, be it indigenous to this planet, or even perhaps not from these parts, at all points in the time-space continuum, past, present, or future, or even from a reality in a dimension not congruent to the one I currently inhabit, and also, any discarnate beings or entities, should they exist, who happen to read messages on this listserv, blog, wiki, email blast list, CD, or put on paper and stuffed into your door, windshield, mailbox or book bag. You are what you do, not what you say you'll do. From Carl Jung Good enough isn't. The "if it's not broke, don't fix it" mentality promotes mediocrity that evolves into inferiority. If you're not getting better, you're probably getting worse. Systems that do not adapt to changing circumstances not only become obsolete, they often become conter-productive. Scary There can be no improvement without change and change is scary. All change involves risk. However, failure to change involves greater risk. Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is. Pittsburgh needs to be Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh can't turn itself into something that it isn't. Pittsburgh can't be a vacation mecca. Pittsburgh can't be "Disney-like" with a fake Main Street. We have real Main Streets in our neighborhood that need to be as unique as they really are. Governments view of economics: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. :Ronald Reagan When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato Politics, it seems to me, for years, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason. ~Author Unknown Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. ~W.C. Fields There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de Tocqueville We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard I think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough. ~Clarie Sargent, Arizona senatorial candidate Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956 Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where they is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear. ~William E. Gladstone, 1866 George Washington is the only president who didn't blame the previous administration for his troubles. ~Author Unknown Truth is not determined by majority vote. ~Doug Gwyn An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. ~T.S. Eliot Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. ~Ernest Benn We have, I fear, confused power with greatness. ~Stewart Udall Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton Two types of swimmers * As I used to tell my swimmers, there are two kinds of swimmers -- those who can kick and distance swimmers. from David Berkoff from Laurie Lawrence '' Stuff the Silver, we’re going for Gold.'' from Laurie Lawrence The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender. from Laurie Lawrence Be proud, persist, work hard, stand tall. Don't quit, don't bend, don't break & don't fall. from Laurie Lawrence The will to win is the will to prepare to win. The harder you work, the sweeter the victory. from Laurie Lawrence Success is the celebration of preparation. from Laurie Lawrence The Difference between good and great is a little extra effort. from Laurie Lawrence Perspiration is the Lather of Success. from Laurie Lawrence Never Forget How You Became Good. from Laurie Lawrence William Jennings Bryan "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." Appreciation for this inofrmtaion is over 9000-thank you! Appreciation for this inofrmtaion is over 9000-thank you! Benjamin Franklin "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Alan Keyes "Do we really think that a government-dominated education is going to produce citizens capable of dominating their government, as the education of a truly vigilant self-governing people requires?" Mark Rauterkus When people have little or nothing to shoot at, they tendto shoot at each other. This is a root of teen violence. Give them something to shoot at. Sports matter.Sports help people find goals. Those are worthy pursits. Rec centers and swim pools matter. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. On Writting = "AND I QUOTE" A collection of advice, inspiration and other words of wisdom on the craft of writing Compiled by Chip Scanlan, The Poynter Institute “A writer is a reader moved to emulation.” —Saul Bellow “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.” —Ernest Hemingway “You have to fall back on the basics: Sit down and tell a story. What happened? “What did it look like, sound like, feel like? Who said what? Who did what? And why does it matter? What’s the point? Why is this story being told? What does it say about life, about the world, about the times we live in? Newspaper writing, especially on deadline, is so hectic and complicated—the fact-gathering, the phrase-finding, the inconvenience, the pressure—that it’s easy to forget the basics of storytelling. Namely, what happened, and why does it matter?” —David Von Drehle, The Washington Post “A scene is a point in time. Summary carries you between points in time.” — Stuart Warner, Cleveland Plain Dealer “You are your own brand. Be a thoroughbred in the newsroom. Thoroughbreds wear blinders so they can’t see what the other horses are doing. Run your own race.” — Diana Sugg, The (Baltimore) Sun “The trouble with doing nothing is you never know when you’re finished.” Anonymous “Athletes teach you that behind any kind of confidence is conditioning. And behind any inspiration is hard work. They also teach you that creative decision making — clarity of thought, and composure — is directly related to your physical state. There is a saying: “Practice beats talent when talent doesn’t practice.” And it’s absolutely, utterly true. I’m continually, constantly, everlastingly, refreshingly surprised by how hard writing is. It’s like a case of amnesia — between stories I forget how awful it was. But I remember again as soon as I sit down in front of the computer. I’m also surprised by how much writers fumble around in the dark, just hoping for a blast of fortunate inspiration. And I’m surprised by what a minor factor inspiration is in the overall process. It helps. But frankly it’s the glazed donut of thinking. Writing is breaking rocks with a shovel. It takes a certain kind of strength.” — Sally Jenkins, Washington Post “Stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.” — Stephen King “Don’t talk about giftedness, inborn talents? One can name all kinds of great men who were not very gifted. They acquired greatness ... all of them had that diligent seriousness of a craftsman, learning first to construct the parts properly before daring to make a great whole. They allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher “Filling this empty space constitutes my identity.” — Twyla Tharp, choreographer “Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.” — Steven Pressfield, novelist “If you are not discouraged about your writing on a regular basis, you may not be trying hard enough. Any challenging pursuit will encounter frequent patches of frustration. Writing is nothing if not challenging.” — Maxwell Perkins, editor “‘Too many of us wait to do the perfect thing; with the result we do nothing.” —William Feather, publisher “Nulla dies sine linea. Never a day without a line.” — Horace “I believe that the so-called “writing block” is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance ... one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing ... I can imagine a person beginning to feel he’s not able to write up to that standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that’s surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I’m meeting right now ... You should be more willing to forgive yourself. It doesn’t make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you’ve done it.” — William Stafford, poet “Sometimes reporters become caught up in the thrill of the chase. They look only for warts, never for beauty marks. The opposite of this is the Goody-Two-Shoes syndrome; it afflicts those who find little to fault in this best of all possible worlds. Keep in mind, always, that each day on our planet is filled with both darkness and light.” — E.M. Wardlow “What lasts in the reader’s mind is not the phrase but the effect the phrase created: laughter, tears, pain, joy. If the phrase is not affecting the reader, what’s it doing there? Make it do its job or cut it without mercy or remorse.” — Isaac Asimov “I try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” — Elmore Leonard “Compose with utter freedom and edit with utter discipline.” — Erica Jong “People come to a newspaper craving a unifying human presence — the narrator in a piece of fiction, the guide who knows the way, or the colleague whose view one values. Readers don’t just want random snatches of information flying at them from out of the ether. They want information that hangs together, makes sense, has some degree of order to it. They want knowledge rather than facts, perhaps even a little wisdom.” — Jack Fuller “Of the many definitions of story, the simplest may be this. It is a piece of writing that makes the reader want to find out what happens next. Good writers, it is often said, have the ability to make you keep on reading them whether you want to or not — the milk boils over — the subway stop is missed ... But stories also protect us from chaos, and maybe that’s what we, unblinkered at the end of the 20th century, find ourselves craving. Implicit "in the extraordinary revival of storytelling is the possibility that we need stories — that they are a fundamental unit of knowledge, the foundation of memory, essential to the way we make sense of our lives: the beginning, middle and end of our personal and collective trajectories. It is possible that narrative is as important to writing as the human body is to representational painting. We have returned to narratives — in many fields of knowledge — because it is impossible to live without them." — Bill Buford, The New Yorker “You can’t write a personal column without going to some very deep place inside yourself, even if it’s only for four hours. It’s almost like psychotherapy, except you’re doing it on your own. You have to pull something out of yourself and give away some important part of yourself...It’s a gift you have to give to the reader, even if it’s the most light-hearted piece in the world.” — Jennifer Allen, essayist “You write to discover what you want to say. You rewrite to discover what you have said and then rewrite to make it clear to other people.” — Donald Murray “Writing is a craft that takes many years to develop. The publishing world is full of talented, hardworking writers who’ve struggled for years to learn the necessary skills. I counsel any writer to focus on the job at hand — learning to write well — trusting that when the time comes, the Universe will step in and make the rest possible. Writing isn’t about the destination — writing is the journey that transforms the soul and gives meaning to all else.” — Sue Grafton, mystery writer “A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” — Paul Valery, poet “My task I am trying to achieve, is — by the power of the written word — to make you hear, to make you feel. It is, before all, to make you see. That — and no more. And it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there according to your deserts: encouragement, consolation, fear, charm — all you demand — and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.” — Joseph Conrad “I love the flowers of afterthought.” — Bernard Malamud, novelist “When I see a paragraph shrinking under my eyes like a strip of bacon in a skillet, I know I’m on the right track.” — Peter DeVries “Remember: the easiest thing for the reader to do is to quit reading.” — Barney Kilgore, Wall Street Journal “Gulp. And go.”. — Anonymous editor “To me, writing fiction is always about momentum. Momentum is more important than finesse. Finesse is what you do on the second or third draft. Getting the story out is what you’ve got to do first.’” — Larry McMurtry “There is a myth at large in the general population, easily quashable yet somehow allowed to persist, that writing comes smoothly, like gas from a pump, or at least unbidden, like tears. This is bull. No decent prose is ever dashed off, especially that which appears to be effortlessly dashing. Just as Buster Keaton and Douglas Fairbanks had to rehearse their leaps and pratfalls, so grace on the page has to be earned with infinite sweat.” — Anthony Lane. The New Yorker “The main rule of the writer is never to pity your manuscript. If you see something is no good, throw it away and begin again. A lot of writers have failed because they have too much pity.” Isaac Bashevis Singer “It’s one thing to be given a topic, but you have to find the idea or the concept within that topic. Once you find that idea or thread, all the other anecdotes, illustrations, and quotes are pearls that hang on this thread. The thread may seem very humble, the pearls may seem very flashy, but it’s still the thread that makes the necklace.” — Thomas Boswell, The Washington Post “Before it’s finished, good writing always involves a sense of discipline, but good writing begins in a sense of freedom, of elbow room, of space, of a challenge to grope and find the heart of the matter.” — Saul Pett, Associated Press “Notes are like Velcro. As you try to skim them, they ensnare you, and pretty soon you can’t see the story for the details. ‘Repeat over and over, ‘The story is not in my notes. The story is in my head.’” — Jane Harrigan, University of New Hampshire “Make me see.” — Henry Belk, blind editor “Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting, and doing the things historians usually record; while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry, and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.” — Will Durant, historian “The importance of the writer,” “is that he is here to describe things which other people are too busy to describe.” — James Baldwin, novelist “The way I start writing is always the same. I sit down at my typewriter and start typing. I start to babble, sometimes starting in the middle of the story and usually fairly quickly I see how it’s going to start. It just starts shaping itself on the typewriter.” — Cynthia Gorney, The Washington Post